Strike – Thursday 25th June

22 Jun, 2015

Further to our call to action short of a strike starting on 23rd June, our branch has also just submitted another notification to the employer that we are also calling all London Met University employed UNISON members to a day’s strike action on 25th June.

Where?
All London Met buildings will have pickets. Further details coming soon.

When?
Thursday 25th June, all day.

Who?
All directly employed London Met UNISON members. If you know someone who feels embarrassed or ashamed about crossing our picket lines last strike on the 4th June, please ask them to join UNISON and respect them this time. If you are worried about putting your neck on the line, imagine how vulnerable you’ll be for not standing up for yourself when the next round of cuts come…

All members should help the picketing
Pickets must be supported by all members if they are to be effective and we need all the support we can get to win this. We will be publicising more details on this soon but please remember your reps are not elected to do all the work for the branch – we ask that all members lend a hand.

Food and travel costs will be provided for all members picketing and a hardship fund will be circulated soon.

How & why then?
We will be keeping the picketing up all day as it will be a busy day for London Met. Students get their exams published that day, so watch this space for more details.

Please come to our BBQ next week on Tuesday to find out more. Only UNISON members who come to the BBQ get free food, non-members can only get food or legal support for joining our strike if they join before next week’s action.

Why?
Incredibly, management have still refused to commit to no compulsory redundancies for our members and we cannot accept this. We have some movement – some members who were ‘too expensive’ to let go, for example, have now been granted Voluntary Severance. This is due to our pressure and we should be proud that we have made a difference to our members’ lives.

We believe there will now just be a handful of threatened compulsories which can be fully avoided.

We are almost there but not quite.

The Governors have not replied to the letter we sent them on 2nd June, let alone agreed to meet us. This arrogant refusal to talk to ‘the likes of us’ can only be explained by either academic snobbery or the stance of an anti union employer who are punishing UNISON for robustly challenging them over the years. We have been a ‘thorn in their side’ accordingly they are still sulking when we should be seen as a critical friend.

Why else would they meet with UCU and the students union? Are they trying to play the age-old ‘divide and rule’ tactic?

We think so, and we will not be ignored and we will not allow them to settle with UCU but not with UNISON.

Our main problem is in ISS (IT and media). Our branch has a proud tradition of standing up to bullies and their failure to even agree to a zero cost alternative (eg a job share) is astonishing given the purpose of the exercise is to avoid compulsories.

If you think this doesn’t affect you because you’re not an IT worker, then think again. If we allow sick absences to be reintroduced as a way of selecting who has a job and who has to find an alternative then we gone backwards and it could happen to any one of us next.

We therefore call on all London Met Uni UNISON members to recruit the non-members left in their workplaces and join us all in our determined fight against compulsory redundancies.